Coming Soon to a Bedside Near You

TOKYO — Japan plans to prepare safety rules soon for robot nurses, which are expected to serve humans within five years in the fast-greying society, a government official said Wednesday.

“We hope that the Japanese robotics industry will continue to be the industry leader by preparing necessary guidelines for service robots,” said ministry of trade and industry official Motoki Korenaga.

Japan, with a high life expectancy and low birth rate, faces a shortage of caregivers for elderly people and has loosened its tight immigration rules to invite hundreds of nurses from the Philippines and Indonesia.

“As aging of the population is a common problem for developed countries, Japan wants to become an advanced country in the area of addressing the aging society with the use of robots,” the official told AFP.